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#Dominion is published in 2 weeks' time: a history less of Christianity than of what has made Christianity revolutionary & transformative over the course of its 2000 year existence.
So not a small theme...
So not a small theme...
So how to give order to the immensity of such a theme? OBVIOUSLY: by drawing on Christian symbolic numerology - and specifically on the numbers 3 ("one God in 3 persons") and 7 (the number of the sacraments, virtues, deadly sins, churches in Revelation, etc.)
The book is divided into 3 parts (Antiquity, Christendom, Modernitas); each part is divided into 7 chapters; each chapter is divided into 3 parts.
Each chapter has a single word title. It opens at a particular place, on a particular date, with an episode from history that serves as an introduction to the broad theme of the chapter. The chapters run from 479 BC to AD 2015.
So each day, I will tweet a chapter's heading, and where and when the introductory episode is set. To give you, dear potential reader, a sense of what you will be getting should you decide to throw caution to the winds & invest in a copy of #Dominion.
1. ATHENS
479 BC: THE HELLESPONT
Artaÿctes, the Persian governor on the Hellespont, & his son are captured by the Athenians. Artaÿctes is crucified. "Then," as Herodotus puts it, "before his very eyes, they stoned his son to death."
479 BC: THE HELLESPONT
Artaÿctes, the Persian governor on the Hellespont, & his son are captured by the Athenians. Artaÿctes is crucified. "Then," as Herodotus puts it, "before his very eyes, they stoned his son to death."
2. JERUSALEM
63 BC: JERUSALEM
Pompey the Great captures the Temple and enters its Holy of Holies.
"Foreign nations went up to Your altar,
in pride they trampled it with their sandals." #Dominion
63 BC: JERUSALEM
Pompey the Great captures the Temple and enters its Holy of Holies.
"Foreign nations went up to Your altar,
in pride they trampled it with their sandals." #Dominion
3. MISSION
AD 19: GALATIA
The Galatian Commonwealth meet in convocation to proclaim the 'euangelion', the 'good news', of a man who had ascended into heaven to reign as a god, and to sit at the right hand of his father: Caesar Augustus. #Dominion
AD 19: GALATIA
The Galatian Commonwealth meet in convocation to proclaim the 'euangelion', the 'good news', of a man who had ascended into heaven to reign as a god, and to sit at the right hand of his father: Caesar Augustus. #Dominion
4. BELIEF
AD 177: LYON
Irenaeus leaves for Rome as behind him, rounded up by mobs, the Christians of the Rhône valley wait to be executed in the theatre of Lyon - and to speak, as they suffer a protracted death, only "the declarations of their faith." #Dominion
AD 177: LYON
Irenaeus leaves for Rome as behind him, rounded up by mobs, the Christians of the Rhône valley wait to be executed in the theatre of Lyon - and to speak, as they suffer a protracted death, only "the declarations of their faith." #Dominion
5. CHARITY
AD 362: PESSINUS
The emperor Julian arrives in the seat of the Great Mother, Cybele, whose priests since time immemorial had been dancing, and cross-dressing, and castrating themselves - and is appalled by what he finds...
AD 362: PESSINUS
The emperor Julian arrives in the seat of the Great Mother, Cybele, whose priests since time immemorial had been dancing, and cross-dressing, and castrating themselves - and is appalled by what he finds...
6. HEAVEN
492: MOUNT GARGANO
On a mountain where Calchas, the Greeks' soothsayer at the Trojan War, lay buried, a bull is miraculously saved from a poisoned arrow, & a radiant figure in armour appears to a peasant.
'I am the guardian of this place. I stand watch over it.'
492: MOUNT GARGANO
On a mountain where Calchas, the Greeks' soothsayer at the Trojan War, lay buried, a bull is miraculously saved from a poisoned arrow, & a radiant figure in armour appears to a peasant.
'I am the guardian of this place. I stand watch over it.'
7. EXODUS
632 CARTHAGE
A ship bearing a letter from Caesar glides into the harbour, with orders that all the Jews in Africa be forcibly baptised - 'visitors as well as residents, their wives, their children, their slaves.' #Dominion
632 CARTHAGE
A ship bearing a letter from Caesar glides into the harbour, with orders that all the Jews in Africa be forcibly baptised - 'visitors as well as residents, their wives, their children, their slaves.' #Dominion
8. CONVERSION
754: FRISIA
Pirates attack the 80 year old West Saxon missionary Boniface. He forbids his retinue to defend themselves. So violently do the blows rain down on the old man that twice a book he has in his hands is hacked through.
754: FRISIA
Pirates attack the 80 year old West Saxon missionary Boniface. He forbids his retinue to defend themselves. So violently do the blows rain down on the old man that twice a book he has in his hands is hacked through.
9. REVOLUTION
1076: CAMBRAI
Ramihrd, a man accused of heresy, is burnt to death in a hut by an outraged mob. The local bishop, content to regard his murderers as agents of a higher purpose, is startled to find that Ramihrd has an admirer in a very high place indeed: the pope.
1076: CAMBRAI
Ramihrd, a man accused of heresy, is burnt to death in a hut by an outraged mob. The local bishop, content to regard his murderers as agents of a higher purpose, is startled to find that Ramihrd has an admirer in a very high place indeed: the pope.
10. PERSECUTION
1229: MARBURG
The Lady Elizabeth, descended from kings, widow of the ruler of Thuringia, spends her days toiling in a hospital, washing dishes in a kitchen, being barked at by a deaf & exacting housekeeper. In the background: her 'Master of Spiritual Discipline'
1229: MARBURG
The Lady Elizabeth, descended from kings, widow of the ruler of Thuringia, spends her days toiling in a hospital, washing dishes in a kitchen, being barked at by a deaf & exacting housekeeper. In the background: her 'Master of Spiritual Discipline'
11. FLESH
1300: MILAN
Inquisitors scoop out from its grave the mouldering corpse of Guglielma, an enigmatic noblewomen believed by a secret order of nuns to have been an incarnation of the Holy Spirit, & whose coming heralded an age when the pope & cardinals would be women.
1300: MILAN
Inquisitors scoop out from its grave the mouldering corpse of Guglielma, an enigmatic noblewomen believed by a secret order of nuns to have been an incarnation of the Holy Spirit, & whose coming heralded an age when the pope & cardinals would be women.
12. APOCALYPSE
1420: TABOR
Convinced they are living in the shadow of the Day of Judgement, people from across Bohemia, from across every social class, flock to build history’s first town founded on communist principles. The poor, it seems, have inherited the earth... #Dominion
1420: TABOR
Convinced they are living in the shadow of the Day of Judgement, people from across Bohemia, from across every social class, flock to build history’s first town founded on communist principles. The poor, it seems, have inherited the earth... #Dominion
13. REFORMATION
1520: WITTENBERG
Martin Luther holds up the papal decree condemning his teachings. "Because you have confounded the truth of God, today the Lord confounds you. Into the fire with you." He drops it into the flames. The parchment blackens, curls, & turns to smoke.
1520: WITTENBERG
Martin Luther holds up the papal decree condemning his teachings. "Because you have confounded the truth of God, today the Lord confounds you. Into the fire with you." He drops it into the flames. The parchment blackens, curls, & turns to smoke.
14. COSMOS
1620: LEIDEN
On 3rd October, the citizens of a city "flowing with abundance of all sorts of wealth & riches" celebrate the anniversary of their miraculous deliverance from the king of Spain. Meanwhile, a group of English Puritans are preparing their departure...
1620: LEIDEN
On 3rd October, the citizens of a city "flowing with abundance of all sorts of wealth & riches" celebrate the anniversary of their miraculous deliverance from the king of Spain. Meanwhile, a group of English Puritans are preparing their departure...
15. SPIRIT
1649: ST GEORGE'S HILL
The Lord General with his train of officers arrive on a hill in Surrey. 12 people, digging, planting & spreading manure, are trespassing there. Their leader, Gerard Winstanley, claims the entire earth to be "a common Treasury for all."
1649: ST GEORGE'S HILL
The Lord General with his train of officers arrive on a hill in Surrey. 12 people, digging, planting & spreading manure, are trespassing there. Their leader, Gerard Winstanley, claims the entire earth to be "a common Treasury for all."
16. ENLIGHTENMENT
1762: TOULOUSE
On 13 October, the evening calm of the Rue de Filatiers, a shop-lined street in the heart of the commercial district, is disturbed by a terrible howl of anguish. The screams come from a shop owned by a cloth-merchant: Jean Calas... #Dominion
1762: TOULOUSE
On 13 October, the evening calm of the Rue de Filatiers, a shop-lined street in the heart of the commercial district, is disturbed by a terrible howl of anguish. The screams come from a shop owned by a cloth-merchant: Jean Calas... #Dominion
17. RELIGION
1825: BARODA
Late in the afternoon of 29 November, a British surgeon arrives on the banks of the Vishwamitri river, there to watch a young woman be burnt alive.
1825: BARODA
Late in the afternoon of 29 November, a British surgeon arrives on the banks of the Vishwamitri river, there to watch a young woman be burnt alive.
18. SCIENCE
1876: THE JUDITH RIVER
As dry thunder rumbles over the Montana badlands, Edward Drinker Cope tosses & moans in his sleep, so unsettled by the dinosaurs he has been excavating by day that they come to visit him in his sleep, "tossing him in the air, trampling him."
1876: THE JUDITH RIVER
As dry thunder rumbles over the Montana badlands, Edward Drinker Cope tosses & moans in his sleep, so unsettled by the dinosaurs he has been excavating by day that they come to visit him in his sleep, "tossing him in the air, trampling him."
19. SHADOW
1916: THE SOMME
By night, as the artist Otto Dix huddles in a machine-gun battery, flares over no man's land light up corpses grotesquely twisted on barbed wire. To Dix, it seems that the whole world is transformed. "Humanity changes in demonic fashion."
1916: THE SOMME
By night, as the artist Otto Dix huddles in a machine-gun battery, flares over no man's land light up corpses grotesquely twisted on barbed wire. To Dix, it seems that the whole world is transformed. "Humanity changes in demonic fashion."
20. LOVE
1967: ABBEY ROAD
The Beatles play their largest-ever gig. John Lennon, alternately singing & chewing heavily on a wad of gum, offers the watching world a prescription with which neither Aquinas, nor Augustine, nor Saint Paul wld have disagreed: 'all you need is love'.
1967: ABBEY ROAD
The Beatles play their largest-ever gig. John Lennon, alternately singing & chewing heavily on a wad of gum, offers the watching world a prescription with which neither Aquinas, nor Augustine, nor Saint Paul wld have disagreed: 'all you need is love'.
21. WOKE
2015: ROSTOCK
'You have explained very well a situation that many others find themselves in': Angela Merkel, visibly uncomfortable, to a Palestinian girl due to be deported from Germany, & who has just begun to cry live on television.
2015: ROSTOCK
'You have explained very well a situation that many others find themselves in': Angela Merkel, visibly uncomfortable, to a Palestinian girl due to be deported from Germany, & who has just begun to cry live on television.
#Dominion begins with a dedication to Deborah Gillingham, my much loved, much missed godmother - and ends with her as well.
I hope that if you opt to throw caution to the winds and read #Dominion, you enjoy it!
